Alan Colquitt is a student of the ways people act in the workplace. In a corporate career that spanned more than 30 years, the industrial-organizational psychologist advised senior managers and human resources departments about how to manage talent—always striving to “fight the good fight,” he says, and applying scientific rigor to his job.

Should executives ask employees for hiring referrals? Colquitt would consult the research to see if that would bring in better candidates. How to get more women into senior management? Colquitt would dig into studies that revealed the reasons for the stubborn endurance of the glass ceiling.

And then he hit a ceiling of his own.

A Fortune 500 firm where he worked had put in place a compensation system that was making employees miserable. Colquitt hadn’t been the one who implemented the system, which gave better raises and bonuses to those who scored high on a five-point performance scale. But people complained to him about it, incessantly. He decided to push upper management for change.

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